Once you’ve checked out those posts, it’s time to learn how to drive traffic to your website! In this post we are going to explore some of the most exciting ways to drive traffic to your SaleHoo Store (although the amazing secrets I’m about to share with you will work equally as well for any type of website).

So you want to increase your website traffic?

Well, there are two main methods for this. You can leverage free traffic methods, in order to deliver as much targeted traffic as possible that you don’t have to pay for. Conversely, if you want to get as much traffic as possible in a short space of time (and you’ve got a good monetization method set up) then you can explore the exciting possibility of pay per click, also known as ”PPC“ marketing.

In this blog post we are just going to explore how you can get traffic with PPC marketing.

If you’ve ever used Google, then you might already be familiar with PPC. Do ads like these seem familiar?:

These are ”Google Adwords“ – the most common type of PPC ads (and the ones that we will focus on in this blog post) You can also place Google Adwords inside the content of other websites.

Basically, PPC is a way of matching advertisers and their products with customers who are after something in particular.

Why use PPC?

PPC can seem quite daunting to a newbie, but rest assured it is actually the perfect choice for building a highly profitable website.

Here’s why you should use PPC:

You’ll get traffic, fast. With free traffic methods, where you are trying to leverage your search engine ranking and referral traffic to get visitors, it can take months (and sometimes years) before you start to see any meaningful traffic. However, with PPC traffic you can get boatloads of traffic with a few clicks of your mouse. The sensation of knowing that REAL people could be coming to your website in the next few hours is exhilarating. Compare this with the frustration of "free" traffic methods and you’ll see why PPC is such a popular choice.

For example, check out this amazing traffic spike on a website from just one PPC campaign:

Pretty impressive, huh? Up until March 22nd, this site was not running any form of PPC advertising. A quick PPC campaign that lasted a few days resulted in that massive spike in traffic.

Do you remember the profit equation you learned in the very first post in this series?

PPC marketing offers you the most effective and easy way to boost that number of leads. Provided the rest of your formula is all in place (i.e. you’re selling profitable products that convert) then by using PPC your gross profit will only head upwards!

Another reason you should use PPC is that it allows you to target keywords that have higher competition. It is important to remember that targeting the right type of keywords can mean the difference between earning big, and making no money whatsoever.

PPC allows you to target keywords that have a high degree of "buyer intent". Rather than having to spend your valuable time and energy trying to rank organically in Google for buyer-friendly keywords, you can deliver targeted traffic in mere minutes by harnessing the power of PPC.

A beginner’s guide to PPC

It wouldn’t exactly be fair to tell you all about the amazing benefits of PPC and then not show you how to get started!

Let’s now take a look at how you can get started with PPC, using the Google Adwords platform.

If you scroll down the page you’ll see a video where Sam, one of our staff members, walks you through the PPC marketing process. But for now let’s cover a brief outline of how to get targeted traffic to your SaleHoo Store (or website) with PPC:

1. Register for Google Adwords and credit your account – To get started with PPC you’re going to need an account! Remember that PPC isn’t free, but you only pay when someone actually clicks your ad and comes to your website, and you usually only pay a couple of dollars. You can sign up for your Google Adwords account here; the whole process won’t take more than a few minutes and there are great instructions provided.

2. Research your keywords – You’re selling the products your customers want. However, you need to make sure that those customers are actually going to see your ads and click on them. Therefore, you need to carefully research your keywords, in order to provide the "answers" to your customers’ "questions". You can use the free Google Keyword tool to help you research keywords. You might also like to try your hand with a free copy of Traffic Travis (get it here) which will help you to research profitable PPC keywords. In the video that accompanies this blog post, Sam will show you how to research your keywords.

3. Write your PPC ad – It’s time to start writing your first ad! PPC ads are a little bit tricky to write when you first get started, but after a while they will become second nature. There are a few restrictions you will face when writing Google Adwords ads:

a. Maximum of 25 characters in the headline
b. 35 characters per row of text
c. 4 rows per ad
d. One of these rows has to be your URL
e. You can’t have any pictures
f. You can’t use any color

The secret to successful PPC ad copy is to make use of every single character. You need a catchy headline that incorporates your keyword (for example, if you keyword is ”best baby supplies“ then you would want to incorporate that into your keyword).

The two ”body rows“ of your ad need to contain a call to action that persuades viewers to click on your ad. A call to action is a phrase that really makes somebody want to take action. It’s as close as you can get to literally jumping out of a viewer’s computer screen, grabbing them by the hand, and then forcing them to click on your ad.

Perhaps the easiest way to write a call to action is to let the viewer know what’s in it for him/her when they click the ad. If your SaleHoo Store offers the best-priced art supplies, then you need to use this as your call to action. Tell the viewer to ”buy [their] art supplies here for the biggest discount“.

Without a call to action, your ad is going to flop. Don’t stress though, because you will become more proficient at writing these ads with time.

4. Set your bid amounts – when it comes to PPC, setting the right bid amounts is the closest thing to black magic that you’ll ever encounter. This can mean the difference between blowing out your entire budget (and losing money) or running a really tight ship and making a whole load of money. Although there are many different factors that influence your bid amounts (and your impressions, clicks, and sales as a consequence) the easiest way to get started with Adwords is to use automatic bidding. This means that you set up a daily budget limit, create your ads, and then Google will get you the biggest number of clicks possible through to your site. In all honesty, this will save you the headache of trying to bid manually; once you’ve got that extra experience with Adwords and PPC you can try manual bidding. With auto-bidding you can even set a maximum price for each bid you are willing to make!

5. Watch the traffic come in – Once you’ve got your first campaign setup, it’s a case of watching the traffic come in to your SaleHoo Store or website. PPC really is the best way to drive traffic to your website when you are first starting out. If you’ve got a site that sells profitable items, then it’s just a case of finding keywords that have great buyer intent, then writing and placing ads that get visitors through to your site. SaleHoo Stores takes care of the rest for you!

Now if that sounds a little bit confusing to you, let’s watch Sam as he teaches us how to drive targeted traffic with PPC:

After reading this post and watching Sam’s video, you should have enough knowledge to get started with Google Adwords and PPC marketing. If you wanted to learn how to drive traffic to your website, then you now know!

Remember that PPC is the quickest, most time-effective way of driving targeted traffic to your website. In this blog post you’ve learned how to get started with PPC marketing; just remember that it takes a little bit of trial and error to learn PPC properly.

Coming up: In the next blog post in this series we are going to take a look at methods you can use to make even more money from your SaleHoo Store – without having to spend one measly dime! If you’ve ever wanted to line your wallet with an eCommerce site (and trust me, you most certainly do!) then you’ll need to keep an eye out for this blog post. In the meantime, check out our amazing August-only deal for SaleHoo Stores and get set for a profitable Christmas and holiday period!

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Posted by
Toni Puamau on 7:12 29 Aug
Hi, I would like to let you know that i really, really, like this article (A+). The only feed back that i have for Sam's presentation was, he spent his time showing how to finding good keyword rather then showing us how to drive traffic to your website, over all I did enjoyed every bit of it.
Many thanks and see ya again! Reply

Posted by
Danielle Hello
on 22:48 30 Aug
Hi,
In the video,can you tell me why did you picked the words whose monthly searches were less popular? Reply

Posted by
Alice Delore
on 21:40 3 Sep
Hi there,
It's best to start with the less popular keywords when you are just starting out with SEO because there is less competition so you won't be competing with so many people to rank in the search engines. This will make things a lot easier for you. Once you become more confident with SEO, you can target the more popular search terms, but it certainly pays to start off small :)
I hope this is helpful. Reply

Posted by
Alice Delore
on 21:40 3 Sep
Hi there,
It's best to start with the less popular keywords when you are just starting out with SEO because there is less competition so you won't be competing with so many people to rank in the search engines. This will make things a lot easier for you. Once you become more confident with SEO, you can target the more popular search terms, but it certainly pays to start off small :)
I hope this is helpful. Reply

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